Monday, November 2, 2009

The 1821 tax list for Boone County is a treasure trove of information -- much more than just names. Since the 1820 territorial census of Missouri has not survived, this list is critically important in documenting many of the settlers and their status at this early date.

The original list is at the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, which also has a copy of the 1825, 1827, and 1829-1831 tax lists for Boone county as well as those for 1817 and 1819 Howard county. All of these would be of interest to those researching early Boone county.

The original document is a paper-cover ledger book that measures 8" x 12-1/4". All entries are clear but some of the letters or combinations are difficult to read with certainty because of the script used. The left and right pages together comprise one page of entries. The pages are lined off in neat rows and columns.

One of the three copies ordered originally by the county court was for the county collector, Overton Harris. It is this copy that has been preserved at the Missouri Historical Society and from which this transcription is taken. The first page of the book includes the following notation:

A copy of Assessor’s General alphabetical lists of Taxable property in Boone county Mo for the year 1821 Boon Cty O. Harris Sheriff & CollectorReceived auditors office the 2nd Augst 1821 and charged the Collector accordingly.

The precise column headings found in the original document are as follows: Name No. of acres Valuation Town lots Valuation Dwelling houses Valuation Mills (Column omitted below. Entries included in notes.) Valuation (Column omitted below. Entries included in notes.) Tan yards (Column omitted below. Entries included in notes.) Valuation (Column omitted below. Entries included in notes.) Distillerys (Column omitted below as there were no entries.) Valuation (Column omitted below as there were no entries.) Slaves over 3 years old Valuation Horses, mares, mules over 3 years old Valuation Neat cattle over 3 years old Valuation Carriages of pleasure (Column omitted below. Entries included in notes.) Valuation (Column omitted below. Entries included in notes.) Household furniture above the value of $500 (Column omitted below as there were no entries.) Watches, chains, & appendages Valuation Unmarried men 21-50 years old Aggregate amount Amount of taxes

The 1821 tax rate for the state was set at 1/4 of 1% of the valuation, plus $1.00 for an unmarried man.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THESE TABLES

The 1821 Boone county tax lists is comprised of two tables. The first, longest, and most informative is the list of resident taxpayers. The second list is of non-resident taxpayers.

The data which follow are intended to be as accurate a transcription of the original lists as possible. However, in the interest of saving space, some changes have been made in the residents’ list, namely: 1. In the original book, there are two columns headed “Distillerys” and “Valuation [of the Distillerys].” There were no “Distillerys” listed in 1821 for Boone county and these two columns are not included below to save space. 2. The column for “Household furniture above the value of $500" had no entries so this column has also been omitted. 3. The columns for mills, their valuation, and for Tanyards and their valuation, are omitted from the data below but the few entries in these columns are explained in the notes. 4. There was only one Carriage of Pleasure so this column and the associated valuation column were omitted from the data below but the entry is explained in the notes. 5. The “alphabetization” of both lists was by first letter of the last name only. Thus all the names beginning with each letter were grouped together but they were not further alphabetized. Since sequence in the tax list has no significance, the entries have been sorted to place them in strict alphabetical sequence to make searching easier. The user is still cautioned to look for all variants as the spellings are known to be inconsistent with later spellings in some cases. 6. Taxes in the original were calculated to the 1/4 of a cent. They have been rounded to the nearest cent in this listing.

The user will note inconsistencies in some of the numerical values. For example, about 12% of the entries have an error in either one of the valuations or the aggregate amount listed. About the same frequency of errors can be found by comparing a calculation of the tax owed with the amount listed. Some of these errors were undoubtedly introduced during the transcription but many of them are in error in the original list. We must remember that the “original” was itself a copy of the first assessment list.

For the resident's data below, a comma separates each field after the name. The headings associated with each remaining column of data in the data below are:NameNo. of acresValuationTown lotsValuationDwelling housesValuationSlaves over 3 years oldValuationHorses, mares, mules over 3 years oldValuationNeat cattle over 3 years oldValuationWatches, chains, & appendagesValuationUnmarried men 21-50 years oldAggregate amountAmount of taxes

#1. This may well be Robert Barclay.#2. Switzler, on p. 169 in a table of 1821 tax delinquents, stated that James Beatty was "dead" as a reason for his delinquency.#3. Just before the "1" indicating an unmarried man, was a notation that seems to read "son," suggesting the unmarried man was the son of Samuel Crocket.#4. The tax list reads "Grayum" but Switzler, on p. 169, gives the name as Jonathan Gray.#5. Family researchers report that both of these entries should be "Hickam."#6. The tax list seems to read "Hanks" (with difficulty) but Switzler, on p. 169, gives the name as "Hornts."#7. The $80 aggregate and the $1.20 tax are as on the original list but one must be in error. It's also possible that Lipscomb was an unmarried man and that the column was not properly checked when the copy was made. If so, his total tax would have been $1.20.#8. The tax list seems to read "Thornton" (with difficulty) but Switzler, on p. 169, gives the name as "Thompson."#9. Though the first name clearly reads "Bilson," this is thought to be Gilpin Tuttle, brother of Thomas.#10. The tax list seems to read "Vanausdel" (with difficulty) but Switzler, on p. 169, gives the name as "Vanauster."#11. John Coapland (Copeland) had one mill valued at $180.#12. Richard Fulkerson had one mill valued at $100.#13. Derrett Hubbard had one mill valued at $200.#14. Peter Stice had one mill valued at $200.#15. Wrilliam Wright had one mill valued at $100.#16. Benjamin Mothershead had one tanyard valued at $40.#17. William Lientz had one carriage of pleasure valued at $150.#18. According to a letter by son J.M. Wright in the Missouri statesman newspaper of 16 Feb 1883, William Wright's mill was horse-powered and built in 1819 for his father by a Mr. Lyons. It had a double-geared mill-shed 40 feet square, 10' diameter large wheel and a 7' spur wheel. Reuben Cave cut the mill stones.

NON-RESIDENT TAX PAYERS

After the name, there are seven columns (fields) in this table. The column headings, the same as in the original book, are:NameNo. acresValuationTown LotsValuationCommentsAggregateAmount of Taxes

The history of tax collection in what is now Boone county effectively began when Howard county was formed from virtually the entire northwest part of the Missouri territory in 1816. Prior to 1816, very few people lived within the present limits of Boone county but a population boom was starting just about the time of the designation of the original Howard county. From 1816 through 1820, residents within what is now Boone county paid taxes as part of Howard county.

Boone county was formed out of Howard county by an act of the Missouri Territorial Legislature on November 16, 1820. Missouri counties were required to collect taxes due the state but they were also authorized to collect taxes that would go into the county treasury. At the Boone County court meeting February 19, 1821, Michael Woods was appointed assessor for the county for the year 1821. At the July 14, 1821, county court meeting the tax levy for 1821 was set at 50% of the state tax and the clerk was ordered to make three copies of the corrected assessment lists. Thus we know that the actual tax assessment for 1821 represents taxable real and personal property in the county during the first six months of 1821. There was probably a more precisely defined cutoff date for this list (such as January 1 as is done now) but we have not been able to document the date.

Two lists were made to show all taxes due in Boone county in 1821. The first (and largest) included the names and taxes for all residents of the county. Non-residents who owned land here but resided elsewhere were included on a separate list. The latter list included only land (acreage and town lots) and not any of the other categories of personal property. Both lists were transcribed and entered above and they should be searched separately.

It is interesting to use the tax lists to learn what we can about the early settlers of Boone county and to get a peek at what the county was like during this first year.

The land area of Boone County was about 674 square miles according to Switzler’s 1882 history. This compares favorably with the current figure of 685 (from the county web site). The amount of land area in the hands of “residents” totals to 98,319 acres. When the 38,706 acres in the hands of “non-residents” is included, we see that the privately owned land in 1821 was about 137,000 acres. This is about 32% of the land in the county.

The lowest total assessment on the list was for $10, the valuation for one broken down horse or one cow. Several men with such lowly possessions paid the required 2-1/2 cents to the state plus 1-1/4 cents to the county as their fair share of that year’s tax. The highest tax assessed that year was paid by Peter Bass on a valuation of $11,809, including $6,250 for 24 slaves! He paid $29.52-1/4 in state taxes and the additional 50% to the county. Bass paid a tax that was more than twice as high as the next wealthiest citizens. For example, only seven other men paid a state tax over $10, including: James Cunningham, William Lientz, John McMicle, Mason Moss, James M. Moss, and Anderson Woods. William Lientz had another distinction, that of being the only person to pay a tax on a “carriage of pleasure.” His $150 carriage must have been something to behold.

From the tax list, we learn that there were only 290 “dwelling houses” in the county at the time, with the average house valued at just over $15. Nearly all of them were rough log structures, though it would be interesting to know what the $100-200 dwellings of John Copeland, John Grayum, James Harrison, Joseph Lynes, Anderson Woods, or William Wright looked like.

Five mills existed at this early date, although we’re not told which ones were horse-powered and which might have been water-powered. The mill owners and the valuations were: John Coapland, $180; Richard Fulkerson, $100; Derrett Hubbard, $200; Peter Stice, $200; and William Wright, $100. Switzler’s comments about the early mills (pp. 170-171) agree reasonably well with the official tax record, though he seems to have understated the number of early mills. He stated that “before 1820 there was but one grist mill [in Boone County]. It belonged to John Copeland, and stood near Moniteau creek, several miles north of Rocheport. During 1821 another one was built by Durrett Hubbard, about eight miles southeast of Columbia . . . . During 1822 the great influx of emigrants occasioned the construction of a considerable number of factories and mills, and by February 4, 1823, there were in the county three manufacturing water mills, ten horse mills and three water saw mills.” It is reasonable to suspect that at least the mills of Copeland, Hubbard, and Stice, all valued at around $200, were water driven.

Only one tanyard was reported in this first tax list. Valued at $40, it belonged to Benjamin Mothershead. There were no distilleries reported in Boone county in that first tax year but it wouldn’t be long before some were built here.

Four hundred thirteen (413) slaves over three years of age were counted and valued at around $250 each. The total population in the county at this time was around 4000, so the slave population represented about 10% of the total.

Ninety-four unmarried men between 21 and 50 paid the “bachelor’s tax” of $1.00. They represented 17% of the total resident tax payers.

The total state taxes assessed that year were officially claimed to be about $987 on the 535 “resident” tax payers. (The total using these transcribed figures is within $1 of the official amount.) This meant the average state tax bill was about $1.84 with another $0.92 due to the county. The total was equivalent to about a quarter of a beef, or 20% of the average dwelling, or the purchase price of about two acres of land.